Clock



Jan. 2, 1951 w. F. THOMPSON 2,536,237

CLOCK Filed April 8, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet l In uentor William fe'Thompson Jan. 2, 1951 w. F. THOMPSON CLOCK 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed. Aprils, 1947 Wil/iam Thompson Patented Jan. 2, 1951 UNITED STATES aTENTOFFICE CLOCK` William Thompson,l Philadelphia, Pa. ppiia' plil 8, 1947,Serial N0. 740,047

1 Claim.

This inventicnrelates to new and useful improvements and".structuralrenements in clocks, more specifically, electric wall clocks,and the principal. object of the invention is to provide a deviceof thecharacter herein described. wherein an indicator handv equipped at theopposite ends thereof with day and night indicating characters ismovable with respect to a substantially semi- Ycircular time indicatingdial, whereby the antemeridian and post-meridian hours of the day may bereadily identified.

A further object ofthe invention is to provide a clock which isexceptionally novel and pleasing in appearance' since, in effect, itsimulates a porthole of a ship and provides representations of scenerysuch as may be visible through said porthole.

Another object of the invention is to provide a clock which may `beautomatically illuminated during the hours of darkness.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a clock which issimple in construction and which will readily lend itself to economicalmanufacture.

With the above more important objects in view and such other objects asmay become apparent as this specification` proceeds, the inventionconsists essentially of the construction and arrangement of parts asshown in the accompanying drawings in which: o y

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the inf vention, the same beingshown partially broken away to rev'eal its construction;

Figure 2-is a cross-sectional view, taken substantially in the plane. ofthe line 2--2 inlFigurer 1.;

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional' view, taken substantially in the plane ofthe line 3 3 in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a front perspective view of an oscillating center plateAused in the invention and of means for oscillating the same; d

Figure 5 is a perspective view of an electric switch and cam, and;

Figure 6`r is a ptempestiver view of an indicator hand used in theinvention.

Like characters of reference are used-to designate like parts in thespecification and throughout theseveral views. A

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail, the inventionconsists of a clock designated generally by the referencer character It,the saine embodying' in its construction a pair of half sections H, l2'coacting to forma disclike housing I`3" which is preferably adapted formounting upon-a wall in any suitable manner.

The housing i3 simulates the appearance of a porthole of a ship, for thefurtherance of which effort it may be provided with a suitable hingeHand vwith a securing handle assembly l5. In effect, the hinge Hl andthe handle assembly I5 2 may be employed for attaching the housingsections Il, l2 together in such manner that they may be opened whenaccess to the interio'rof the housing is to be had.

The front surface of the housing section' l2 provides what may b'ecalled a face plate I8, this in turn, being formed with a circularopening lil'. The upper half of the plate IG is inscribedadjacent theedge of the opening il with suitable time mark-ing graduations as isindicated inY Fig-'- ure 1, the graduations constituting what may bereferred to as a semi-circular dial I8. The a1"- rangement of thisrdialwill be hereinafter more fully described.

Av suitable electric motor I3 is provided in' the housing i3, this motorbeing secured as indicated at 2li to amounting plate' 2l` which, inturn-,.- is rigidly secured to the housing section l las at 22.

The mountingplate 2l is equipped` with a center bolt 23l and the lattercarries a stationary back plate 24 having asubstantially circularconfiguration. This plate is disposed behind the openingl il and isspaced with respect to the face plate I6, as is bestV shown in` Figure2';

The aforementioned center bolt 23 carries a rotatable sleeve 25 having asubstantially hexag'- onal cross-sectional configuration, which sleeve,in turn, is provided with a gear 26,-a-ca1`n 2T and with an indicatorvhand 28. K

In other words, rotation of the sleeve 25 will result in aI simultaneousrotation of the' parts 26, 2l,r 28. The indicator hand 2B is providedsub*n stantially at the center thereof with an enlarged boss 29 wherebythe mounting of the hand upon the sleeve 25 is facilitated, while theend portions of the hand are angulated inwardly around thev marginaledges of the back plate 24, asindicated at 30; A day indicatingcharacter and a night indicating character are secured to the inwardlyangulatedI end portions of the handE 25, these characters beingrepresented by a sunshapedv ligure 3l and a moon-shaped 'gure 32respectively.

A substantially s'emicircular', oscillating center plate 33 ispositioned between the aforementioned plates |124, the plate 33' beingsupported and oscillated by an' arm 31% which'. is formed integrallywithy the plate, as is best shown in Figures 2 and 4.. It widV benotedthat'the`v plate 33 and the arm 34 are mutually spaced and the freeextremity of the arm isY freely pivoted on theY aforementioned centerbolt 2S.

The arm 34 together with the plate 33 are oscillated by means of av cam35 secured 'to a shaft 3S, the cam 35 being engaged by a cranklikefollower arm if?v which, in turn, actuatesa further crank or arm 38. Thelatter is operY atively connected: toD the aforementioned arm Sli bymeans of a link- 3S, and it will beI found that rotation of thev cam 35will produce an oscillating movement of the plate 33. A'suitable 3spring 40, anchored at the extremities thereof to the plate 2| and tothe arm 34, is employed for maintaining the follower 31 in engagementwith thecam 35, as will be readily understood.

The shaft 36 is driven through the medium of suitable gearing (notshown) yby the motor I9 and l the shaft (36) also carries a gear 4|which meshes with the aforementioned gear 26. Accordingly, rotation ofthe motor I9 will not only produce an oscillating movement of the plate33, but will also result in a rotating movement of the indicator hand29.

The aforementioned cam 21 is engaged by a conductors 41 are, of course,in circuit with the f motor, more specically, with the conductors 49,whereby supply of current to the lamp 48 through the switch contacts 45,46 is provided.

The front surface of the plate 33 is painted as shown in Figure 1 torepresent the scenes such as would be visible through the portholeopening and to further enhance the realistic effect, the upper edgeportion of the plate 33 may be provided With a projectionwhich, whenpainted, would represent a ship on the sea.

Furthermore, appropriate backgrounds for the ship are provided by theplate 24 which represent the sky.

Accordingly, when the invention is placed in use, the sky representationupon the plate 24 will, of course, remain stationary, while anoscillating movement of the sea and ship represented by `the plate 33and projection 50 will be provided by the cam 35 in the manner alreadydescribed.

' Therefore, when the invention is used as shownv in Figure 1, therocking movement of the sea andvship will present unusual and novelvisual effect, as will be readily appreciated. if'

Simultaneously, rotary motion will be imparted f to the indicator hand29, whereby the sun 3| and the moon 32 will be brought selectively andexclusively into position adjacent the dial I8. That is to say, when thesun 3| is disposed adjacent the dial, the moon 32 will be hidden belowvthe sea, more specifically, behind the plate 33;

A similar remark may, of course, be applied to the sun when the moon isdisposed adjacent the dial. Accordingly, rotation of the hand 29 willcreate the appearance of a rising and setting sun and of a rising andsetting moon, this being considered with respect to the horizonrepresented by the upper edge of the plate 33.

The aforementioned dial I8 includes a pair of diametrically opposedgraduations 5| which represent corresponding ante-meridian andpost-meridian hours of the day, preferably 6:00 A. VM. and 6:00 P. M.,substantially as shown. The portion on the dial between the graduationsis divided into intervals marking the successive hours (and minutes, ifdesired) of the day, the hour of 12:00 (noon or midnight) being disposedat the zenith of the dial.

A It may be assumed that the sun 3| rises on the left hand side of theclock and after emerging above the upper edge of the plate 33, therelative position of the sun will progressively indicate the time of theday with respect to the graduations on the dial |8. As shown in Figure1, the hour of the day is approximately 1:15 P. M. In due course, thesun 3| will set on the right hand side of the dial and simultaneouly,the moon 32 will rise on the left hand side, in order to indicate thetime at night.

It will be also noted that the configuration and position of the cam 2lis such that the points 45, 46 are in contact While the moon 32 ispresent adjacent the dial I8, whereby the clock will be illuminatedautomatically between the hours of 6:00 P. M. and 6 00 A. M., as will beunderstood.

It may be also explained that the hand knob 52 is employed for settingthe indicator hand of the clock in the conventional manner.

It is believed that the advantages and use of the invention will beclearly apparent fromz the foregoing disclosure and accordingly, furtherdescription thereof at this point is deemed unnecessary.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferredembodiment of this invention it is to be understood that minor changesin the details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts maybe resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as claimed.

What I claim as my invention is:

In a clock, the combination of a, housing affording a face plateprovided with a circular opening, a frame in said housing, a motorcarried by said frame and having a drive shaft, a driven shaft rotatablyjournaled in the frame coaxially with said opening and operativelyconnected to said drive shaft, an indicator hand secured to the drivenshaft, an oscillatory limb pivotally mounted on the driven shaftrearwardly of said hand and having a forwardly extending free endportion, a semi-circular panel secured at its arcuate edge to the freeend portion of said limb and disposed between said hand and said faceplate concentrically with said opening, a cam secured to said driveshaft, a double arm crank pivoted to said frame and having a first armin operative engagement with said cam, a link pivoted to the second armof said crank and to an intermediate portion of said limb whereby saidpanel may be oscillated by rotation of said drive shaft, and resilientmeans for urging the first arm of said crank in engagement with saidcam.

WILLIAM F. THOMPSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 391,271 Phelps Oct. 16, 1888508,467 Clark Nov. 14, 1893 666,381 Gareau Jan. 22, 1901 723,489Rosenbusch Mar. 24, 1903 1,216,556 Faiella Feb. 20, 1917 1,517,174Schmidt Nov. 25, 1924 1,989,584 Biedenfeld Jan. 29, 1935 2,091,205Johnson Aug. 24, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 6,465Switzerland Feb. 7, 1893 40,797 Switzerland July 22, 1907 l 84,473Switzerland July 17, 1919 743,618 France Jan. l0, 1933

